5 September 2013 Breakthrough technology for non-invasive moisture measurement

Researchers at Lincoln Agritech Limited have pioneered an innovative approach to using microwave technologies for non-invasively measuring moisture content, potentially creating new high value manufacturing export opportunities.
 
Lincoln Agritech has overcome a significant limitation of current methods of moisture sensing. Lincoln Agritech has characterised the behaviour of a new guided microwave technique, which analyses the path and reflection patterns of an electrical pulse sent down a transmission line.

Samples with high permittivity (such as water) near or around the transmission lines invoke a polarisation field that acts against the initial field slowing down the pulse and extracting energy from it. Thus the amount of water present in the surrounding material can be determined by taking careful measurements of both the time the pulse takes to reflect from the end of the line back to the injection point and the amplitude loss of the pulse during its propagation.

In achieving this, Lincoln Agritech has developed new generation non-invasive sensors that are uniquely suited to characterising subsurface moisture content and density profiles.

Lincoln Agritech’s Chief Scientist, Dr Ian Woodhead, says the new technology “recognises that non-invasive measurement is an advantage over methods previously used that can be destructive, expensive and time consuming. This new technology also provides the possibility of tracking moisture distribution in the measured materials and charting drying processes.”

Lincoln Agritech is currently working with industry partners to commercialise this technology in a number of areas, including a potential roading application.

Dr Woodhead says “Water under the surface of roads is the single biggest issue in road-condition problems. By placing the device on the surface of a road seal we can take a scan – or multiple scans – to map the moisture content of the base course in a non-invasive manner.”

For more information, read the full article on page 86 of the University’s research profile publication Transform.